Saturday, September 29, 2007

St. Vincent - Marry Me

St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, is a Tulsa, OK born singer/songwriter previously known for her work with Sufjan Stevens and The Polyphonics Spree. Her debut album Marry Me displays a quirky, multifaceted display of often cinematic songwriting that both reflects some current trends in Indie rock (Sufjan Stevens' use of Americana in all its forms; jazz, blues, folk) and an older, more torch singer style sense of show(wo)manship. Clark is a multi-instrumentalist who manages to impress the listener with the depth of her compositional melange (lovely word) without seeming like a primadonna. Every song on Marry Me is a fully formed piece, and throughout it manages to be both boldly confident and endearingly sensitive. It's also a grower, which is why i've waited until now to write about it. I also imagine that she's capable of much more in the future. Clark is on tour in the UK with The National throughout November, and i've heard she's pretty darn great live too, so that's a pretty amazing bill. The albums out now on Beggars!